Incense
by Talicor
Summary: After ANH, Luke, desperate for answers about his father, approaches the mind of the only living being to remember him. Darth Vader. Upon entering the mind of a murderer, he gets much more than he bargained for.


_**Hello everybody! Just wanted to prove to you that I am still among the living! I would also like to apologize for the long delays on my other stories! I have had some MASSIVE writer's block, and classes are heating up!**_

_**Anyway... As a peace offering (and an effective means to thaw my writer's block) I present to you a little collaborative one-shot! **_

_**Credit goes to StarWarrior72, for her awesome role as Luke!**_

_**Anyway... I hope you enjoy! Leave a review, and let me know what you think? (It's styled a bit differently than my other stories due to its origins as a conversation on iMessage.)**_

_**Also of note: I WILL be returning to a more regular update schedule after this week!**_

**_Now, I present to you, Incense, for your viewing pleasure._**

**_~Talicor_**

* * *

_Darkness is peace. Darkness is warmth..._

Shaded thoughts slither through my mind as I settle down to rest. For nearly twenty years the Dragon has had his way, keeping to the shadows, and destroying any light to come his way within my mind.

Suddenly, a brilliant light pierces the vale, and the Dragon withdraws to the corners of my consciousness.

_ What is this?_

* * *

I blink around at the darkness, startled, but not entirely surprised exactly, at how dark the inside of Vader's mind is. I step in further, trying to force my eyes to adjust to the dark. I had meant to startle him into telling me things, but at this rate, I'll just run off, "Hello?" I call, putting my voice in the damp, visceral silence.

A rustle in the darkness, and the Dragon speaks.

"You are far from home Little One." He rumbles, watching the small beacon of light in this void of blackness.

"Tell me about it," I retort, "Are you what Vader sounds like without his voice modified?"

"No," the Dragon shakes his head, unseen, before continuing in a soft, musical voice. One used by a certain Anakin Skywalker.

"I sound like this."

I'm surprised at how soft, almost kind, the voice is, "Then what are you doing in his head?"

"Why, I have always been here," the Dragon purrs, claws scraping as he moves along the dark framework surrounding the boy. "Now I must ask, what are you doing here?"

"There's something I want to ask Vader," I say, turning rapidly in a circle, trying to follow the menacing sounds, but still unable to catch more than a cold, metallic glint off whatever is speaking to me.

"Hm... A question?" The Dragon grins wolfishly, exposing crimson teeth and a glowing maw, dripping with the venom of Fear.

"A question," I repeat, "Can I speak with him?"

"My boy," the Dragon chuckles, "You already are."

I glare into the darkness, "No, I'm not. You said that you're not what Vader really sounds like."

The Dragon's voice returns to the gravelly tone it was in the beginning.

"I do not take to using my natural voice often. It is too soft, too weak, for my purposes."

"What are your purposes?" I ask, still trying to see it properly, "You live in the mind of a mass murderer."

"I am the one that breaks minds." The Dragon states, before returning to the soft voice, "Although, with some, this works better."

"Can I speak to Vader?" I ask again, unsettled by the thing's words.

"I AM Vader." The dragon asserts, slithering to the edge of the thin circle of light, still enough to remain hidden, his eyes glittering from the darkness.

I give up arguing, "Did you kill my father?" I ask instead, trembling internally with the question.

"Hm..." The Dragon rumbles in thought, pacing with a clacking of steel claws, "Depends young one... Who is your Father?"

"Anakin Skywalker," I answer, moving towards the evil glimmer of the thing's eyes.  
"Lies!" The Dragon snarls, "He had told me she was dead!"

"What are you talking about?" I demand, "I'm asking if my father is dead!"

With a sudden rush of scales and steel, the Dragon flowed from the darkness, circling me with an obsidian darkness.

"I was told your mother had perished." He whispered, his voice softer than a secret caress.

"I know my mother's dead!" I shout in frustration, "I'm asking you about my father!"

The Dragon pauses, leering at me with a great scarlet eye.

"Fortunately for you, he is."

My frustration vanishes in sudden hope, "He is?"

"Yes," the Dragon drawls, continuing his circling, taking the opportunity to caress me lightly with the tip of his tail. "Although, you must tell me one thing." He pauses, drawing closer, nearly snout to nose, "What is your name?"

I shiver at the touch, "Luke Skywalker."

"Luke..." The Dragon rolls the name on his tongue, before nodding, "Yes... I recall that name. _She_ was the one that chose it."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, trying to pull away from the circle of dragon.

"Your name," the Dragon rumbles, drawing his circle tighter around the intruder. "It is one that had been a great source of debate."

"Debate?" I ask, scrambling up and over its tail.

* * *

"Oh yes," I nod, gently grabbing the boy with a claw.

"Let me go," He commands, struggling against the cold scales of the clawed hand.

"And why should I do that?" I ask, studying him with a large eye.

"I am not your dinner," He enunciates, clearly put off, "Let me go."

At this, I can't help but chuckle.

"This is not a simple fairy tale young one. I do not eat people."

"In my experience," He retorts sharply, folding his arms, "Dragons usually want to eat me."

"As any Krayt dragon is bound to do," I snort in reply, flattening my scales to reduce my bristly appearance.

"What do you want with me?" He demands looking me in the eye, "If not to eat me."

"You asked about your father," I remind, "A certain Jedi by the name of _Anakin Skywalker_?"

"Yes?" The intruder asks, curiosity peaked, "What about him?"

"I know where he is." I reveal, lowering him to the ground, noticing now, how my ebony scales had paled to a medium grey, and getting lighter.

"Where?" He questions further, pulling a couple of scales, embedded in his person after contact with me, back out.

At this, I shake, as a wet dog would, scales flying in every direction until nothing is left, but the very core of my soul.

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see young Skywalker," I reply, feeling the last of my scales slough off, revealing my original self at last.

* * *

The Dragon's dark voice has left, leaving the other one, the one he said was Vader's. I lower my arm, and look at him. Immediately, I feel everything around me freeze, and I realize I've forgotten how to move.

* * *

Attempting to adjust to the change, I blink rapidly in the light. It had been so long since the Dragon had let me be…

* * *

"You-," I stutter, "You're…"

"I'm what?" The figure asks, blinking one final time before looking over to the stunned Rebel.

I shake my head, unable to find words.

"Had you scared, didn't he? The Dragon, I mean…" His soft voice inquires, blue eyes, so like mine, softening in... _Regret_?

"Of course!" I blurt.

"Well, he's gone now." He soothes, teeth flashing a brilliant white as he speaks.

"I can't tell you how glad I am," I admit, stumbling up to the man I knew to be my father.

"Believe me, you didn't see anything," He shrugs, before meeting my eyes with blue ones of his own, "What possessed you to come in here though?" He questions, concerned, "Surely you know what Vader is capable of doing to those who get too close."

* * *

"Well," He states slowly, "It is only a dream. And I thought he'd be the one to know if you were gone."

"And why is that?" I ask, stepping more firmly into the light, even if it burns.

"I was told Vader'd killed you."

I can't quite manage to mask my incredulity at this.

"_What_?!" I sputter, "Who told you that?"

"Obi-Wan," He responds, shuffling his feet against the ground nervously.

"Of course," I put a mechanical hand to my face, "I take it he's the one that's been hiding you all this time?"

He nods slowly.

Noticing his fearful reactions, I place a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's not your fault... You were deceived by a crafty old geezer. Now, you know the truth."

* * *

I smile weakly and put my arms around him, pressing against his larger frame for protection in the darkness.

"Why do you fear the shadows Luke?" He speaks softly, holding me close and closing his eyes.

"Anything could be hiding in them," I answer, "Even the Dragon."

As if in answer, a low, guttural sound rumbles from beyond our vision, and he looks down to meet my eyes once more.

"That may be true. But the Darkness can also protect."

"How?" I ask, incredulous, "It's kept me from protection my whole life!"

"It can hide our greatest flaws," my father begins, "In the physical world, it can hide you from those who seek to destroy you."

"I'd prefer to stand and fight," I shake my head.

* * *

"Then you are a braver soul than me," I confess, feeling cinders crawling up my skin from being so close to such brilliant light.

It is then he noticed a small burn starting to form on one of my arms, "Are you all right?"  
"I'll be fine," I dismiss, nonchalantly hiding the burn.

Stubbornly, he tugs his arm back into sight, "You're burning," He states, suddenly remembering the grisly remains of his aunt and uncle lying dead outside the farm, and lets go, backing away quickly, "Why are you burning?"

At this, my countenance darkens ever so slightly.

"Why do you think I am in here Luke?"

"Here?" He asks, clearly confused, "I don't know."

"Hm..." I murmur, studying the spreading cinders on my arm, before looking back at him as he finishes skittering away. "Why do you run?"

"It's me, isn't it?" He asks, frightened, "I'm hurting you, aren't I?"

"I haven't gotten much light in recent years," I state simply, "Besides, a sunburn isn't so bad."

"It's worse than a sunburn!" He protests, watching in horror as my skin dries in flakes, like flat desert rocks, the splits opening up, but thankfully not bleeding.

"As you said, it is only a dream," I reply, meeting his eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you," He pleads weakly.

"I do not feel pain," I answer again, "But I dislike scaring you... I can go if you prefer."  
"No," he gushes hurriedly, "I just want to know I'm not hurting you."

"It looks worse than it actually is," I assure, remaining where I am, waiting for him to move.  
Cautiously, he steps closer again, "Will the Dragon come back?"

"That depends," I shrug, clasping my hands behind my back, the last of my flesh arm disintegrating, leaving a grey prosthetic in its wake.

"On what?"

"On whether you stay or not," I sigh, "Only your light is holding him back currently."  
He steps closer again, "I'll stay, then," he swallows thickly, "For as long as I can."

"You're not frightened by any of this?" I ask, motioning to the dark place around us with a metal hand.

"Why would I be? I have you to protect me." My son responds with a smile of innocence.

"You have a surprising amount of faith in me," I observe, "More than I've even had in myself recently."

"It's normal for kids to trust their parents," He answers, shrugging.

"Even when they've been trapped for twenty years with only a Dragon for company?"

"I don't think at that point anything can count as normal," He teases, moving to poke me, but remembering his affect on me in alarm, stops midway through the action, hand falling limply to his side.

"I'll be fine," I promise, noticing the abandoned action.

"I wish I didn't have to worry about hurting you." He sighs, sadness in his voice.

"You don't," I promise, stepping closer.

"But I can't help worrying anyway," He admits, looking away.

"And why is that?" I ask, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"My father is fracturing into pieces in front of me!" He moans, before suddenly noticing the appearance of my hand and stepping away again.

Noticing his reaction, I withdraw.

"I am upsetting you," I observe, "Perhaps I should go."

"No," He asserts, forcing himself to step nearer again, "I'd rather you stayed, if that's all right. It's just all so new and…" He looks more closely at my hand, "Alarming."

"This?" I ask, flexing my hands, "You get used to it after a while…"

"They weren't like that before... You had flesh hands when the Dragon left."

"Perhaps you are seeing deeper into what I am," I state flatly, a faint edge of sadness to my words.

"No," He protests shaking his head, "What your hands are made of has nothing to do with who you are."

"Oh Luke..." I sigh, heart aching, "Do you know why I burn in your presence?"  
He shakes his head, "You wouldn't give me a simple answer."

"I am a broken man..." I begin, shivering, "My hands only confirm the fact…"

* * *

"Why are you shivering?" I ask, stepping closer again, hoping I can warm him without burning him too badly.

"What do you know about the Dark Lord?"

"Not much," I admit, "No one knows much about him."

"Have you ever heard just what is under the armor? Or why he's in it?" My father asks, still trembling in my presence.

I shake my head, starting to feel definitely afraid for him, "Why is that important?"

Frustrated, he takes his head in cold, artificial hands.

"He is more machine than man... A being born of fire and hatred with a furnace for a heart."

"Father," I soothe, "Do you mean…?"

"I hate what I've become?" He mutters, breathing heavily, sweat running down his neck, "Yes. With every fiber of my being."

"Father, you seem ill," I say, looking at him worriedly, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." He defends, shivering again.

"You're not," I argue, "You look dreadful."

* * *

"You should see me under the mask," I reply shakily, attempting a smirk.

"Please stop," He begs, "You don't need to hate yourself!"

"After all I've done..." I reply, looking back at him, "How can I not?"

"You can change it," He pleads, eyes begging, "Just come with me and we'll fix it."

"How?" I ask, faintly hearing the rustle of scales in the shadows.

"If you work to fix what you've done, I'm sure you'll feel better."

Angered at this, the Dragon shot from the darkness, hissing and spreading his wings.

Snarling deep in its chest, it stalked up to the young man.

"You have no power here young one. He is _mine_!"

I leap, moving closer to my father, unsure if I mean to protect him, or if I want him to save me.

"You think he can help you?" The Dragon taunts edging closer, "He can't even help _himself_!"

My mind is made up, and I stand protectively in front of my father, "Get away from him!"

The Dragon snarls again, lashing his great barbed tail.

"Get away!" I shout, reaching for my lightsaber, "You've got no right to be here!"

"I have always been here!" The monster spits back, acid splattering near the intruder's feet, "It is you who should leave!"

"Why should I leave?" I demand, "I was created here, by my father's love! He made me, and you have no such power!"

Infuriated, the Dragon hisses again, fire building in his throat.

"No!" I shout, "You won't burn us! If you do, you'll die as well!"

The Dragon pauses, "How stupid do you think I am?!"

"I don't think you're stupid!" I retort, "But it's obvious you only exist in his mind! You're his fears, and if no one fears you anymore, you'll disappear like the shadow you are!"

Another screech, and the dragon draws closer than ever before.

"Then prove it." He growls, circling about the two.

I turn back to my father, wrapping my arms around him tightly.

"I love you."

Shocked, he wraps shaking arms around me in return.

"I-I love you... Too…"

I cling a little tighter before releasing him, and turning back to the Dragon.

"It will take more than that to banish me little Jedi," he spits, sitting back on his haunches. "I am in his very _soul_."

"You won't go in a single day," I admit, "Maybe you'll never go completely. But you are dependent on him," I point to a patch where the scales have been torn from the flesh of the dragon, "And you control him through fear."

"Very astute youngling," he flicks his tail, unconcerned, "But as long as I am here, Vader will remain."

"Maybe he will," I say, "But as long as I'm near, I won't let him get the better of my father again."

"That has yet to be seen," the Dragon hisses, fire building again.

"And what are you going to do, scorch me away?" I ask, "He would hate you more than ever. You'd lose all your control of him."

"Oh," the Dragon chortles evilly, "I wasn't aiming for you."

With a sudden blast of scarlet flames, my father is engulfed, leaving behind a smoking armored figure.

Infuriated, I glance at him just long enough to make sure that he's all right before stomping up to the dragon, "Is that the best you can do?" I ask, grabbing its head in my hands and glaring at it.

"It is all I need to do," the Dragon snaps, drawing his long violet tongue across my face.

At its slimy touch, it burns like my presence seemed to burn my father, "What do you mean?"

"You make him remember what he used to be..." It hisses, easily slipping from my grip, "It hurts him to merely be in your presence! Even when denying it, he sought the shadows for relief from the harsh Light!" The Dragon purrs, "And I have given it to him."

I remember how Father had spoken of the darkness, and I'm suddenly unsure, stepping slowly away from the Dragon, "He hates himself for what you've made him."

"What 'I' made him?" The Dragon chortles darkly, "He is the one that granted me power. He is my creator, just as he is yours."

I falter again, continuing to back up, "If he created you, he can destroy you."

"Ah, yet in all his life, he has done nothing," the Dragon replies, slowly advancing, "He tried to suppress me, but I have grown far too strong to simply be swept away."

I step back further, more frightened than I want to admit, "He'll find a way."

"Oh, I am so sure," the Dragon rumbles sarcastically, still advancing, "Just as he said he'd 'find a way' to save your mother from death!"

"Father!" I beg, starting to despair, "Tell it that it's wrong!"

* * *

Snapping back to the situation at hand, I recall those horrid days leading up to Mustafar, and I shake my head.

"I-It is... Right," I relent, collapsing to the floor, "I thought I could save her…"

* * *

I hurry to his side, kneeling and cradling him against myself, "It's okay, Father. There's nothing wrong with wanting to save someone."

"It is how He came to power..." He breathes, watching the Dragon, it's maw twisted into a smug grin.

"That doesn't matter," I promise, "You were trying to help. It's never wrong to try to help."

* * *

"Even when it results in the destruction of everything you once knew?" I ask, looking at him from behind Death's eyes.

* * *

"The outcome of your efforts is completely separate," I promise, turning to glare at the dragon, "And you may have first created the dragon, but it wasn't afraid to search for its own power after that."

"And now..." He sighs, respirator hissing, not unlike the obsidian dragon, "I have lost control…"

"You're letting it take control," I plead, "You have to fight it! You can't just give in like this!"

"What's the point..." Father mutters, pulling away slightly, revealing more charring on his armor from my touch, "Returning to the Light is fatal now... I have sacrificed my claim to it…"

"What?" I ask, letting him go, "No! No, that's not true!"

Watching the young Skywalker's distress, the Dragon chuckles, satisfied.  
"I told you little Jedi... He is mine."

"That's not fair!" I shout childishly, standing up, not wanting to hurt my father any more.  
With a rush of ash, the Dragon swirls about me, snaring me in thick, muscular coils.

"Not fair?" He asks, ruby eyes glittering, "What's not fair about it?"

"He's my father," I protest, "Why aren't I allowed to just have a father?"

"Hm.. Let me consider that..." The Dragon smirks, drawing the armored form into the coils as well, "Why do you even want one? This one obviously isn't any good."

"I want my father because I've never had him!" I say, wanting to reach out and grab my father to protect myself from the swirl of dragon, "Because I love him!"

"You love even a mass murderer?" The Dragon inquires, breathing over him with his words, "A killer of younglings? Destroyer of Worlds?!"

* * *

Pained, I cannot bring myself to protest the Dragon's words... It was all true anyway.

* * *

"I don't have to love that," I defend, pushing against the tightening coils, "All that matters is that I love who he is."

"A twisted mixture of man and machine?" The Dragon scoffs, and with a flick of his tail, cleaves the dark armor, revealing sparking wires and torn flesh. "Oh yes, very lovable."

"Why should I care what he's made of?" I ask, "I loved him when he was nothing more than a dream!"

"Then why not keep him as such?" The Dragon hisses, uncoiling from around the young one. "You'd be far less disappointed in the end."

"I'm not afraid that he won't be what I dreamed," I answer, "I've dreamed that. Maybe it's best if it doesn't play out like I imagined."

Now, the Dragon was confused.

"Better?" He asks gruffly, slinking back into his face, "How?"

"If something's perfect, you can't really appreciate how good it is," I answer, meeting the dragon's gaze.

Skeptically, the Dragon flicked the air with a forked tongue.

"Wise words from one so young."

"Let him go," I demand, watching my father borne on the constantly moving tail of the dragon.

"Fine," the Dragon relents, dropping him unceremoniously to the ground, "You can have him for now... Soon enough, he'll come clamoring back to the shadows to treat his burns."

I wish I could think of something to retort with, but already Father's armor is starting to crack from being near me.

Eyes narrowing one final time, the Dragon melts into the Darkness.

"L-Luke?" A surprisingly weak voice emanates from the onyx helmet.

I nod, "I'm here."

"I- I am a fool..." He mutters, attempting to sit up, even sparking and damaged as he was.

I shake my head, carefully helping him sit up before retreating, "It's okay."

"No, I am..." A shaky breath, "The Dragon..." He hesitates, "Did he hurt you?"  
I shake my head, sitting still in the darkness.

"You are shaken... I can feel it." He observes, chest panel flickering weakly in the dim surroundings.

"You wouldn't argue," I whisper sadly, voice hoarse, "You wouldn't tell the dragon that it was wrong about you."

* * *

"What was there to argue?" I ask, "The most terrifying thing about the Dragon, is that he speaks the truth, even if you don't want to hear it."

"It wasn't the truth," He fervently insists, "You can defeat him."

"He will never truly be gone though." I remind, looking up at him through a cracked lens.

"We weakened him," He encourages, "When I hugged you, it burned away some of his scales."

"Yet he continues to antagonize us." I sigh, frustrated at my weakness.

"That's because you're afraid," He whispers, looking at me, "Why are you so afraid?"

"Fear is the way of life for a slave..." I sigh, averting my gaze for a moment.

* * *

"If you're a slave, it's because you choose to be," I tell him, "If you would just stop being afraid for long enough to kill the emperor, the dragon might take you more seriously!"

"Do you think I haven't tried?" He hisses in reply, armor crackling as he moves. "I-I'm not strong enough…"

"We'll take him together, then," I say.

"I don't want you hurt." He counters, clearly drained.

"I won't be," I promise, "You'll make sure of that."

"Can I?" He asks meeting my eyes, "So far I haven't done well in that field." Faintly, a scrape of claws can be heard in the shadows.

My gaze darts in the direction of the sound, "There you go, giving him strength again."

"I can't help it... The Dragon was once my ally, giving me power to face my fears... Especially while I lived with my mother on Tatooine... But now..." He drifts off, watching the shadows for any glint of red.

"Father," I reach cautiously towards him, fearing the inevitable crackle of heat, "It's not helping you anymore."

* * *

"I can see that," I reply dryly, watching the surface of my armor char at his touch.

He sighs sadly, pulling back, "I guess… I should go."

Before he can completely withdraw, I grasp his hand.

"You don't have to..." I begin, "Only the armor burns now."

"Really?" Doubt flits across his youthful features

I nod in reply, finally bringing myself to stand.

"Even that wouldn't burn if I met you in person," He ventures, stepping closer.

"That is true," I nod, "Yet it is not so easy, considering we are on opposing sides."

"I could let them capture me," I offer.

"You should remain with your friends," I comfort, drawing him close. "I will always be here though."

"Promise you'll try to come back to me," He begs, hugging me tightly, choosing to trust that I'm telling the truth about the burning.

"I'll do all I can," I sigh, the armor burning without heat as it began to disintegrate, beginning where he touched, leaving whole flesh and Jedi robes behind as it spread.

* * *

I stare at his robes in surprise. They're not burning. Vader's armor is burning away, but the skin and fabric underneath isn't showing any signs of heat. Hopeful, I smile up at him.

"The dragon won't like this."


End file.
